Maryland Student Threatens To Blow Up School And Teacher’s Home
A Walkersville high school student was arrested after she threatened to blow up the school and a teacher's home on social media.
School is back in session all across America. There is a focus on catching students up and raising educational achievement. Besides academics, there’s also plenty of attention on school safety, as violent incidents perpetually increase in schools. School has been back in session for Walkersville High School students in Maryland for a mere few weeks. But already, the community is grappling with a recent violent threat, in which a student threatened not only to blow up the high school but also a teacher’s residence.
Fox News reported that a female Walkersville high school student recently made threats on social media to blow up both a teacher’s home along with the school campus. The local Frederick County Sherriff’s office received a tip of the online threats over the weekend. They identified the juvenile suspect, arrested her, and concluded that her threats were uncredible, meaning she appears to have had no explosive devices.
The investigation is ongoing, and few details are currently being released by the authorities. However, Walkersville high school officials made parents aware of the situation immediately. Through the district’s “Find Out First” directive which utilizes an automated messaging system to make parents quickly aware of school happenings and emergencies, officials let families know about the bomb threats. Additionally, the school took this opportunity to share an informative video educating parents on social media threats and ramifications.
Both Walkersville high school and the Frederick County school district have seen a significant increase in social media threats targeting students and staff. During the last school year, the district saw a slew of violent threats stemming from social media via TikTok challenges and others that targeted Black students. The district set out and created a video informing parents of the uptick in these incidents, along with tips and tricks for prevention and reporting them.
It is unclear how the student will be reprimanded by Walkersville high school, or if she will be charged by police. However, user comments on a social media post from the Frederick County Sherriff’s office suggest that many parents fear that the discipline will be too little. One user insinuated that there have been other recent bomb threats, which were left unpunished. Another said that she previously taught in the school, adding that serious consequences were unlikely to be dished out.
Violent threats targeting schools like the Walkersville high school have been on the rise over the past decade. According to a report by the Educators School Safety Network, the 2017-2018 school year saw at least 3,380 reported incidents, which was a drastic 62% increase from the previous school year. Apps like TikTok, which are significantly growing in popularity with school-aged children are only making matters worse. Last year, various TikTok challenges urged children to promote violence in their schools. Another coaxed students to join the “slap a teacher” challenge.
Charges against the unnamed Walkersville high school remain pending, and school operations are back to normal. Many parents fear this is part of an increasing trend across social media, where students are inciting violence and more against school leaders, staff, students, and sometimes themselves. Violence is on the rise all across America, and unfortunately, schools are not sheltered from this finding.
